Winners of the Gold Axe, President's Prize and Distinguished Senior awards flash LJs on a staircase in the High Country Conference Center.

Honoring the President's Prize, Gold Axe and Distinguished Seniors of the Class of 2024

Headshot of Brooke Davis
Humans of NAU

Humans of NAU: Brooke Graymountain Davis

Master of Public Health (MPH) student Brooke Graymountain Davis grew up on the Navajo Nation, where access to piped drinking water was scarce until just a few years ago. Her childhood experiences motivated her to confront health disparities in Native American communities in the Southwest and beyond. We caught up with Davis to hear why she chose NAU, what she’s doing in Washington, D.C., this summer as a Udall Congressional Intern and what she hopes to accomplish in her career.
Dispatcher Jhordyn Bigelow in her uniform sitting at a desk.
Campus & Community

'9-1-1, what is your emergency? '

Police dispatchers Jennifer Hood and Jhordyn Bigelow play a crucial yet often overlooked role in maintaining the safety of the NAU campus community. For National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, they offered a glimpse into what a day in their lives looks like and what students might not know about their duties. 
Collage of male researcher working in an engineering lab; female researcher taking notes about plants; and male subject with a cap on his head to measure brain activity.
Research & Academics

A record-breaking year of research 

NAU saw the largest annual increase in research expenditures in fiscal year 2023, leading to a record-breaking amount of research in a year that also saw NAU's projected achievement in R1 research status. Leaders say it's a testament to NAU's teacher-scholar model and the university's mission of recruiting professors who can help students excel in the classroom while thriving in the research field as well. Learn more about the significance of these numbers for NAU's research program and meet three of NAU's researchers who are on the front lines of planetary science, health equity and inclusion.
MORE NEWS

Research & Academics

Collage of male researcher working in an engineering lab; female researcher taking notes about plants; and male subject with a cap on his head to measure brain activity.

A record-breaking year of research 

NAU saw the largest annual increase in research expenditures in fiscal year 2023, leading to a record-breaking amount of research in a year that also saw NAU's projected achievement in R1 research status. Leaders say it's a testament to NAU's teacher-scholar model and the university's mission of recruiting professors who can help students excel in the classroom while thriving in the research field as well. Learn more about the significance of these numbers for NAU's research program and meet three of NAU's researchers who are on the front lines of planetary science, health equity and inclusion.
The Colorado River going through Marble Canyon with a blue sky.

Where is the Colorado River going?

Into agricultural fields, mostly. An NAU study looking at data from the first two decades of the 21st century showed that irrigated agriculture accounts for 52% of overall use. Significant reductions in use are necessary in the coming years to ensure the iconic river remains viable.
Man with gray hair speaking to students sitting around the edges of a classroom

NAU, OpusVi launch affordable online master’s degree in social work

The Master of Social Work program, offered through a collaboration between NAU and the healthcare workforce development organization OpusVi, will help address a nationwide shortage of social workers by offering an affordable route to accreditation.

Campus & Community

Sustainability award ceremony winner.

NAU’s sustainability leaders: students, organizations and others who are making a difference

NAU's Office of Sustainability held its 12th annual award ceremony on Friday, conferring 16 awards to students, organizations and others in the community working to improve sustainability at NAU and in Northern Arizona.
Dispatcher Jhordyn Bigelow in her uniform sitting at a desk.

'9-1-1, what is your emergency? '

Police dispatchers Jennifer Hood and Jhordyn Bigelow play a crucial yet often overlooked role in maintaining the safety of the NAU campus community. For National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, they offered a glimpse into what a day in their lives looks like and what students might not know about their duties. 
Winners of the Gold Axe, President's Prize and Distinguished Senior awards flash LJs on a staircase in the High Country Conference Center.

Honoring the President's Prize, Gold Axe and Distinguished Seniors of the Class of 2024

At a ceremony last week, NAU recognized 45 Gold Axe winners, including five President’s Prize winners—the highest honor awarded to undergraduate students. Additionally, nine students were honored as Distinguished Seniors of their colleges. University leaders, mentors and the students' families were in attendance to honor the accomplishments of these outstanding Lumberjacks.

Lumberjack Features

Headshot of Brooke Davis

Humans of NAU: Brooke Graymountain Davis

Master of Public Health (MPH) student Brooke Graymountain Davis grew up on the Navajo Nation, where access to piped drinking water was scarce until just a few years ago. Her childhood experiences motivated her to confront health disparities in Native American communities in the Southwest and beyond. We caught up with Davis to hear why she chose NAU, what she’s doing in Washington, D.C., this summer as a Udall Congressional Intern and what she hopes to accomplish in her career.
Picture of Cassie Bonah holding flowers, dressed in traditional Ghanaian attire and facing to the side

Humans of NAU: Cassie Bonah

Honors College senior Cassie Bonah aspires to be a doctor—but not all of her on-campus extracurriculars are directly related to her career goals. The daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, Bonah came to NAU in the midst of the pandemic, when it was tough to forge ties with others who looked like her. As the world opened up again, the biomedical sciences major resolved to bring Black students and employees together by organizing a fashion show that celebrated Black cultures and traditions from around the world.
Janan and a young volunteer (a friend's daughter) installing a pollinator habitat in a local school garden.

Cultivate these traits for a thriving Flagstaff garden

It's National Gardening Month and Janan Scott, Coconino Master Gardener and financial oversight analyst at NAU, knows that growing things in Flagstaff can be challenging. As spring approaches, she shares the traits she's developed that have led to her gardening success and offers advice for how other gardeners can cultivate those traits in themselves.

FEATURED SPOTLIGHT

Featured Spotlight: Mary Hanabury

Director of Research Administration Mary Hanabury recently presented at two national research ethics conferences in Washington, D.C. At the Social Behavioral Educational Research Conference, Hanabury addressed the new and complex ethical challenges the research oversight world faces in an era of advancing technology and changing expectations surrounding personal information. At the Research & Medicine Annual Ethical Conference, she shared how human research protection programs can play a role in managing research activities that fall into a gray area between human subjects research and non-human subjects research.